Editor’s Note: Dean Connors, a downtown Wheeling business and property owner, penned this piece on the rebirth of downtown Wheeling. Connors also utilized ChatGPT to assist in his research.

WHEELING — Ten years ago, as visitors traveled Main Street into downtown Wheeling, they were greeted by the sight of boarded-up buildings, vacant lots, and a sense of decline that had lingered for decades. At the end of Main Street stood the now-iconic Boury Lofts building, its windows then covered in faded, green-painted plywood — a symbolic marker of blight.

Today, that view tells a different story. The plywood is gone, replaced by gleaming windows and bustling life. Cranes and concrete trucks mark continued progress. These streets are beginning to come alive with more foot traffic. A community that

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